Maki Journal;Japan's New Local Politics: It's a Fog of Politeness

Sugio Ishitaka, a fruit store owner, knows how he will vote next month on the question of whether a nuclear power plant should be built on the outskirts of town. "But because of my business, I can't talk about it," he said, explaining that he did not want to ruin relationships with customers who might have the opposite view.

Direct democracy is coming to Maki -- and to Japan, a nation in which people tend to avoid confrontations and debate. On Aug. 4, voters in this town of 30,000 on the Sea of Japan coast will cast their ballots for or against a nuclear plant in what will be the nation's first official local referendum.

Although the plebiscite will not be legally binding, it is attracting nationwide attention because of its possible influence on the future of Japan's troubled program to vastly increase atomic energy production.

Worried that a "no" vote here will lead to similar ballots around the nation, the national Government and the electric power industry have mounted a campaign to sway Maki's voters. The local electric company has offered cut-rate travel packages -- a guided tour to a nuclear power plant in a nearby city followed by a visit to a spa, a Japanese-style bullfight or a fancy French restaurant.

The referendum is also important as a step toward greater citizen participation in local decision-making. In Japan, people have generally left things to the government, and local authorities follow directions from the central Government.

In September, Okinawa will hold a referendum on whether the American military bases there should be reduced. Two other localities have plebiscites pending on proposed nuclear power plants and one on an industrial waste site. Movements to recall local office holders are also on the rise.

"Before, if the leaders decided the direction there has never been a case where the voices of people could overturn it," said Shozo Takayose, a professor specializing in local adminstration at Konan University in Kobe.

But now, he said, people are disillusioned with government because of national blunders like the slow response to last year's earthquake in Kobe and local horror stories like a wasteful and unsuccessful waterfront development project of the Tokyo metropolitan government.

On the other hand, the move to direct democracy is also raising fears. Energy and defense, some say, are areas of national policy that should not be left to local residents.

If "the intention of local residents must take priority over everything else, then the energy policy of the national Government might be brought to a standstill," Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest circulation newspaper, said in an editorial.

Under a law intended to disperse power from the central Government, which was written during the United States occupation of Japan after World War II, calling a referendum requires the signatures of 2 percent of the voters and the approval of the local assembly. That has made it difficult to hold such votes because the local assemblies, seeing referendums as a threat to their authority, often veto them.

There is another big limit in the law as well: referendums are not legally binding.

But they can still be influential. In Maki, which is just southwest of Niigata and about 150 miles north of Tokyo, Mayor Takaaki Sasaguchi says the results will determine whether the city sells the electric company some land it needs for the plant. "I absolutely have to respect the voters' judgment," he said.

The Mayor, a sake brewer, was elected in January on the promise that he would hold the referendum. The previous Mayor resigned in December after citizens mounted a recall drive when they became unhappy with dawdling over the referendum and his pro-nuclear stance.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Japan has 49 nuclear plants, which generate about 30 percent of its electricity. The Government wants to increase nuclear power output by an amount that would require about 20 new plants by the year 2010.

But only six are under construction or in planning because people are becoming much less willing to have such plants near their homes, despite the fact that the central Government and utilities offer tens of millions of dollars in incentive payments to local governments and fishermen. And public anxiety about nuclear power has risen even more after the leak of sodium coolant from Japan's experimental fast breeder reactor last December.

It now takes an average of 25 years to go from planning to start-up of a nuclear plant, compared with 8 years in the 1970's. Tohoku Electric Power Company, the local utility, began planning the Maki plant in 1969.

In Japanese elections, candidates are barred from going door to door and there are strict limits on advertising. But in a referendum, there are practically no holds barred, and people here have been inundated by visitors bearing flyers.

Tohoku Electric is aggressively advertising in newspapers and on television, using a former baseball star as a spokesman. Japan's Natural Resources and Energy Agency has sent numerous officials here to make speeches. Other electric companies are having employees get in touch with their friends and relatives in Maki to solicit "yes" votes.

Plant opponents, meanwhile, have displayed thousands of handkerchiefs with anti-nuclear messages written on them. The handkerchiefs are draped on homes, cars and storefronts of sympathizers. In one vacant lot are three "trees" made of handkerchiefs hanging from tall poles.

Both sides predict victory, but the anti-plant forces sound more confident and some polls bear them out.

Many people interviewed in Maki say they appreciate having the right to vote. But they say they don't debate the issue much, in order to maintain harmony.

"Even among relatives, if the opinions are different it would be difficult for the relationship," said Hitomi Homma, a housewife.

In small towns like Maki, people often vote based on their relationships, and entire families or companies might vote the same way. Candidates offer free food, sake and gifts to instill a sense of obligation among the voters.

The pro-nuclear forces are being accused of "buying votes," this way in the nuclear referendum. But with people hiding their feelings, it is tough in this election for the old tactics to work. Tetsuo Nozaki, head of a pro-plant group, said, "This time, even if someone took money we couldn't be sure whether he'd put a circle on our side or not."